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Join Date: May 2008
Location: lynbrook , n.y.
Posts: 5,323


Re: Hi and a ??


Quote:
Originally Posted by disney
I was on the way home from the PA , meet and for some reason i had to stop at Coney Island , as you know they are closing it and re building , so i took some pictures and it was bringing tears to my eyes . Coney Island was a place that my grandparents took me a few times during the summer so it has alot of meaning to me .
I think it is hard because this is the third amusement park that has closed on me . The first one was Rockaway Playland -
and the other was a kids place that my niece i was able to take too was Nunley's .
To make along story short i was thinking of the blog about amusement places that have closed that have alot of meaning towards people .
I know i have been away for a while but the juices are following again . How do you like this idea?
Jeff


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandra Bostwick
That idea sounds AWESOME! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Why don't you let me put it down as a goal and we canpost the link on my blog?



Originally Posted by disney
Be my guest Sandy if you want to re word anything feel free too. ttys
Jeff
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here is a link to my FGM list to help with being an FGM !
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...MailerList.jpg



My CountdownCounting down to: First ever cruise and it is going to be a DREAM
604 days, 14 hours, 23 minutes

What a great message to get at the end of the year! Jeff, I know that you hadn't popped into my blog for a while, but somehow this is right in synch.

In the last entry we talked about broken treasures that had to be released of their emotional charge so we could let them go. Then Jeff (Disney) sent me this interesting idea about starting a visual photolog of old amusement or theme parks that have been closed down or reburbished. VERY COOL IDEA!

Blogging off the top of my head sometimes leads me in non-linear directions, but let's see where this goes.

The first thing that struck me was that Jeff mentioned Coney Island. I remember David, the young machine in the futuristic movie AI sitting in front of the Blue Fairy for ages, begging to be a real boy. By the time David got there, Coney Island was under water, and by the time the future machines found him, the water had frozen to ice. In fantasy or real life, time can really do a number on the things we put our hopes and faith in. (By the way, I recommend the movie. Some people thought it was depressing, but I thought it just a philosophical fable that made you think.)

OK, back to theme parks:
Does anyone remember this?
Ifyouhadwings
Going through this was one of my earliest memories. I can almost feel the imagination neurons sparking as a child going through this attraction.
And remember this one?
20,000_Leagues_Under_the_Sea

Or how about this:
Nowisthetime
I've finally gotten used to the new song, but my childhood memories of Carousel of Progress had this song. Remember the part below that had that new fangled PC where you could even look up recipes without a book? Goleeee!
Carousel_end

And this one is one of my personal favorites.

Horizons_Blog
Horizons



http://www.horizons1.com/photos.htm



This one shaped my fascination with computer communication and most likely, started me on the direction that brought me to this blog with you right now!

I think the playgrounds that hold our child-like hopes and dreams, like David begging the Blue Fairy for his wish, never really go away. I think that the fascination with Disney Theme Parks is related to that in some way. If I were a machine, I could imagine myself frozen in front of Spaceship Earth asking the animatronic figures to show me that path for that bright future that they keep promising at the end of the story. Sometimes just believing in something keeps you going! I do believe that if you just keep going, you'll eventually find some way to adapt to anything!

Because the parks have been a part of our childhoods, when we go there we can tap into that inner child easily. Disney, for so many people, is a powerful path to memories of innocence and magical thinking. Seriously! The parks touch upon all the sensory pathways that trigger memory! Hearing, smell, taste, vision, movement, touch. When I walk through the gates it envelopes me.

Interestingly enough, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom simply don't reach as deep because I was pretty much a young adult when I first visited. Epcot touches a different cord because I remember riding the monorail and seeing the mounds of dirt and the frame for Spaceship Earth as a child. I feel as if I am somehow a part of Epcot because I watched it being built. So many places in our hearts and minds!

I think the sadness Jeff(Disney)mentioned was speaking to the fact that these memory triggers ...a pathway to childhood fun won't be available.

One of the truly magical elements of Disney parks is the constant cleaning and attention to detail. The parks look pretty much pristine from all angles visible to guests. Imagine if we walked in and the parks looked shabby and run-down. That would be a reminder of how much time has passed since childhood! But we go there and it looks pretty much as if it had not aged at all. The ultimate Nip-Tuck environment!

So, as the year closes, I'm thinking about those playgrounds that can no longer be visited and those that, with a little luck, will sweep us back to childhood long into our retirement years. I'm thinking of the exciting new things to see which, unfortunately, need to take the space of old things. And I'm thinking of how awesome it is that some things change in life, while others stay the same. And someplace in our minds there is a place where we store, sort, prioritize, and attach meanings of all sorts to people, places and things.

Right inside your head is the most complex living data storage computer. The places, things, photos, videos and other memorabilia just work to spark what is stored in the old gray matter.

And if we are lucky, we've visited one of the Disney Theme Parks as a kid because, then, we have the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings encoded deep inside our hearts and minds. With a little luck, that will be a sustainable time capsule to take us back to childhood with the push of a turnstile!

Please feel free to look up and post links to your favorite attractions of the past.

HAVE A MAGICAL NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!